Thoughts and experiences from a Bournemouth based cyclist…..

Froome Ventoux run! TDF madness

Now I’m all up for supporting your favourite riders, giving some stick to those you don’t like in the name of friendly rivalry, and turning up in mass to support the sport you love.

But from what I’ve seen today of the tour, someone needs to get a grip. Chris Froome was forced to run the last part of the stage after a crash with Porte and Mollema. Now a crash isn’t normally something to get carried away about but this was caused by ‘fans’ (and I use that term lightly) running into the road, causing the lead motorbike to stop, then Porte to collide with it, with Mollema and Froome piling in afterwards.

The thing is though, what do you do? Do you fence off the whole event? No because that’s half the appeal, it’s not closed circuit racing plus that would delay the speed that the whole events moves at. Do you have police to clear routes? Do you really want to heighten any confrontation? Do you want to turn people off their favourite sport?

As per usual accounting for the few mindless idiots is difficult, stupidity grows by the year it seems, and working to the lowest common denominator could ruin the spectacle.

What is positive is that it has been decided that Froome will retain his yellow jersey, despite finishing 1 minute 40 seconds behind Porte and Mollema on a spare team bike, by the uci.